Acura Motorsports has unveiled the first photographs of their new Acura ARX-06 LMDh prototype, which will compete in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s hybrid-powered GTP category starting 2023.
Acura Motorsports has revealed the first, heavily disguised photographs of the company’s new ARX-06 LMDh prototype in which Meyer Shank Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing will debut in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP category beginning in 2023.
The Acura ARX-06 [Acura Racing eXperimental, version 6] continues a run of Acura and HPD prototypes that began in 199, barely five years after the Acura brand was launched in 1986.
The Acura Design Studio in Los Angeles was in charge of the exterior style of the new prototype race vehicle, working with Honda Performance Development, Acura Motorsports and Honda Racing in North America, and chassis supplier ORECA [ORganisation Exploitation Compétition Automobiles].
“The process we used in creating the exterior design for the Acura ARX-06 is exactly the same as how we create a new Acura passenger vehicle,” said Dave Marek, Acura Executive Creative Director.
“The same world-class stylists that lead Acura production car design created initial sketches, then pared those down to several potential designs.”
“Next we created a scale model, did aero and wind tunnel model testing, and brought HPD and our partner teams in for their feedback.,” Marek recounted.
“The design continued to be refined throughout the testing and evaluation process, until we came up with a final treatment that met our performance goals while maintaining all-important Acura styling cues. It’s been an exciting process.”
The Acura ARX-06 will be the latest in a long line of Acura endurance prototypes that dates back to 1991.
The ARX-06 will be based on the ORECA LMDh chassis and will include Acura-specific bodywork, aerodynamics, and an internal combustion engine.
